Cloud computing has been growing in popularity due to the low expense, low maintenance and highly secure nature of the data storage option. However, many industries are still slow to adopt the cloud for their data storage needs. One of the most notorious industries that are slow to implement cloud computing, but that desperately need the technology are government agencies.
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In 2010, Vivek Kundra, the federal government CIO at the time, released a mandate that said every new government IT venture should evaluate cloud computing in their structure. And that was back in 2010 before cloud computing really took off! According to a GOA survey in 2014, this announcement has gone unheeded by many government municipalities. Total IT spending on cloud computing for all federal agencies is only at two percent.
There are a multitude of factors that play into why cloud adoption is moving at a snail’s pace for government agencies. The main reason that CIO and government leaders report a resistance to the cloud is that they feel “uncomfortable” with the technology, according to InfoWorld. Agencies ready to pioneer the technology are a small percentage of government operations. A large number of tech leaders in government are reluctant to let go of their clunky in-house servers with a multitude of problems and IT expenses.
According to research done by CCCAG and presented in Forbes, some government agency CIO leaders are sitting on the fence, not convinced by the research on the benefits of the cloud. The industry tends to be slow to adopt on anything new and any notion that is not a decade older or more is often rejected. The research on cloud computing is strong and proven, but many government agencies want to see more time pass to really test the longevity of cloud applications.
Here is the problem – there isn’t time to wait. Security threats at the government level are becoming ever more present, especially when it comes to digital. While the rest of the world, even the “bad guys”, adopt digital technology to meet their needs and goals, many government agencies are lagging and therefore making themselves more vulnerable.
Analysts say these government agencies have been preoccupied with other measures instead of taking the time to invest in transitioning to the cloud, but are predicting that a few key agencies will really focus on the cloud this year to set a standard of cloud adoption throughout government agencies. Only time will tell, but it is true that cloud computing can help fix many government operations and data security issues that have been the focal point of media attention the past couple of years. Investing the time and resources to transition to the cloud is vital for government agencies.
